CANTALOUP CULTURE 
The Contrast Between an 
Imperfect and a Perfect Cantaloup. 
Plate No. 3. 
shown that soil cannot be made to pro- 
duce good cantaloupes indefinitely, year 
after year, by applying manure and arti- 
ficial fertilizers. 
Aside from fertility there are also the 
questions of plant diseases, soil bacteria, 
and unbalanced food supply. Crop-rota- 
tion has proven to be the most practical 
and adequate means of preserving not 
only the proper fertility, but the near- 
est approach to securing uninfested soil 
conditions, hence crop rotation becomes 
an important phase of cantaloup culture 
Alfalfa to the western ranches occu- 
pies the same place that clover does to 
the eastern farmer, or the cow pea to 
the southern planter; these crops for their 
respective sections provide ideal soil fer- 
tility and tilth for the cantaloup. In 
Colorado alfalfa sod is the ideal soil prep- 
aration for cantaloupes, and a comparison 
of the results on alfalfa sod with even 
well manured old land will convince the 
most skeptical. (Plate No. 2.) Experience 
has demonstrated that early matured can- 
taloupes can hardly be expected on soil 
following a heavy fertility consuming 
crop, like sugar beets or corn, a good late 
crop being the usual result. Nearly all 
the fine records of early yields and high 
prices have been made on soil that was 
in a perfect state of tilth and fertility. 
Soil can be made too rich in applying 
manures, and the principal point in the 
application of fertilizers is to have a rea- 
sonable amount, and well incorporated in 
the soil, and in the case of barnyard 
manure to have it well rotted. In Col- 
orado manuring in the hill has been 
found to have no advantage over the 
broadeast method, owing probably to the 
wide spreading root system of the plant; 
commercial fertilizers have not been 
profitably used in Colorado. 
743 
Preparing Land for Cantaloupes 
The secret of getting soil in that ashy, 
mellow condition so desirable for canta- 
loupes, is one largely of experience, for 
handling soil in the same manner on dif- 
ferent farms will seldom get the same re- 
sults; one may be a clay, the other a 
sandy loam. The texture and the pre- 
vious cropping has much to do with the 
way the soil can be handled. In general 
there must be moisture in the soil dur- 
ing the winter to secure the mellowing 
effect of the frost, and the soil must not 
be handled too wet. If clay or adobe 
“nacks” it will dry hard and lumpy; real 
sandy soil can be handled wet with less 
risks than other soils. The soil should 
be friable so that the harrow will pul- 
verize it without clogging as it does in 
mud, and yet not so dry as to leave the 
field full of clods. 
Before plowing the soil should be well 
disked for two reasons. First, to thor- 
oughly mix the soil with any fertilizer 
previously applied, and, second, to pul- 
verize the soil on the surface, so that 
after the work of preparation is com- 
plete, the bottom of the furrow will be 
as finely prepared as the top. Plowing 
for cantaloupes is usually made to the 
depth of five to six inches; in the arid 
region the plowed land must be closely 
harrowed behind the plow, to prevent too 
rapid drying of the surface, and should 
be closed up by fining the soil on top; 
this is usually accomplished with the steel 
harrow with the teeth turned nearly flat, 
or with a float or land-leveler. A fine 
dust mulch will check evaporation, and 
Plate No. 4. Leveling Land, and Fining the 
Soil. 
